Global COVID-19 cases surpass 30m: WHO

GENEVA - The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 30 million, reaching 30,055,710 as of Friday, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

Globally, as of 16:01 CEST (1401 GMT) on Friday, 30,055,710 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 943,433 deaths, had been reported to WHO.

The US remained the top in both confirmed and death cases, with 6,571,119 confirmed cases and 195,638 deaths respectively. Following it were India and Brazil, with India having reported 5,214,677 confirmed cases and 84,372 deaths, and Brazil 4,419,083 confirmed cases and 134,106 deaths, WHO said.

Also among the severely-affected countries were Russia with 1,091,186 confirmed cases, Peru with 744,400 cases, Colombia with 736,377 cases, Mexico with 680,931 cases, South Africa with 655,572 cases, Spain with 625,651 cases, and Argentina with 589,012 cases.

On the list of death tolls after the top three were Mexico with 71,978 death cases, Britain with 41,705 death cases, Italy with 35,658 cases, Peru with 31,051 cases, France with 30,930 cases, Spain with 30,405 cases, Iran with 23,808 cases, Colombia with 23,478 cases, and Russia with 19,195 cases.

As the world is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across the world -- including China, Russia, Britain and the US -- are racing to find a vaccine. According to the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), as of Sept. 17, there were 182 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 36 of them were in clinical trials.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned at a press briefing on Friday that "COVID-19 has shown that collectively, the world was woefully underprepared."

"There has been a recurring pattern of money being thrown at outbreaks when they're already in full flow but then funds no longer being available to prevent the next outbreak," Tedros said, urging all countries to "dig in together and invest to ensure a pandemic of this magnitude and severity never happens again."

"The only way to confront these global threats is as a global community, united in solidarity and committed to long-term cooperation," Tedros added.